- Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Devin Williams is expected to miss the entire Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason after suffering a broken right (pitching) hand.
- Williams suffered the injury when he punched a wall after a night of drinking.
- Williams will undergo surgery to put a plate in his hand to repair the fracture.
Every baseball manager lives in fear of injuries. This is particularly true heading into the postseason where they can literally make or break a team’s season. Injuries are bad enough in any circumstance but they’re even worse when they’re ‘self inflicted’. Case in point–the Milwaukee Brewers will likely be without their top setup reliever Devin Williams during the upcoming playoffs due to a broken pitching hand? And how did he break his hand you might ask? It broke when he ‘punched a wall’ after a night of drinking and carousing.
Williams won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2020 and has followed that up with another strong season. He’s 8-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 54 innings as the primary set up man for closer Josh Hader. The 1-2 punch of Williams and Hader is a big reason why Milwaukee is 70-4 this season when leading after seven innings. The details of what happened aren’t very clear but it sounds like Williams went out drinking with teammates following Sunday’s divisional title clinching win. After he arrived home he struck a wall for reasons unknown.
While Williams didn’t shed much light on the situation with these comments give him credit for knowing what he did was stupid and taking responsibility for it:
“I went out to have a few drinks and (at) my home I was a little frustrated, upset, and I punched a wall. That’s how it happened. I’m pretty upset with myself. There’s no one to blame but me. I feel like I’ve let the team down, the coaching staff, the fans, everyone. I know how big a role that I play on this team and there’s a lot of people counting on me.”
President of baseball operations David Stearns told the media that Williams will have to have surgery to put a plate in his hand. Here’s how Sterns explains the situation:
“He came in, told our medical staff. We got him X-rayed during the game yesterday, got the results during the game yesterday, consulted with our doctors today and we understand that surgery is going to be required.”
Sterns originally made the comment that Williams’ injury will keep him out for the rest of the season but he later told individual media members that there’s a chance he could return during the World Series were the Brewers to make it that far.
The situation could actually be much worse for the Brewers. They have good bullpen depth with veterans Brad Boxberger (3.41 ERA) and Brent Suter (3.04) and they could try to wring a few more innings out of closer Hader. They also have a solid five man rotation. Manager Craig Counsell could move one or more pitchers from the rotation to the pen–most likely righthander Adrian Houser (3.34 ERA) or lefthander Eric Lauer (2.93 ERA).
The Brewers are +750 to win the World Series making them a co-fifth selection along with the Chicago White Sox. No word on the condition of the wall at Williams” house.
